Rising college costs and a student debt crisis, deepening the national divide

Today, the promise of American higher education is at risk. The country’s public institutions – once envisioned as affordable, accessible engines of social economic mobility – enroll the majority of college students. But students face mounting hurdles, as tuition and fees at public universities have increased more than three times the rate of inflation in the last 30 years. Financial aid has not kept up, as the out of pocket costs for full-time students at four-year public universities doubled over the last two decades.

the result

An explosion in higher education debt, now over $1.4 trillion, held by over 44 million Americans.